At first I was a little put off. I kept thinking that he was NOT Stannis, but his performance won me over.

I think he captured Stannis' humorless disposition while bringing the unintentionally hilarious Stannis to life. Some of the best guffaws I got from the books came from Stannis.

Even though the actors playing Jorah and Stannis don't match their characters descriptions, I see them now when I read the books.

For Jon, however, he is still a mental composition. The actor has yet to "stamp" the character for me.

I totally hope that Stannis does look older. In the books, I got the real sense that Renly's death combined with whatever Mel was doing was sucking the life out of Stannis. He became more skeletal to me as the books progressed.

Looks like Best Buy is going to get two exclusive covers for season 2 like they did for the first season. Lannister and Greyjoy this time! Lannister is sweet and there is no way I'm NOT getting it since Tyrion is my favorite character.

I'm quite fond of Stannis' casting, too. I thought he worked well in season two but in general the casting has been excellent. The only character that hasn't been working for me is Jon Snow, a character I liked a lot more in the books.

I'm quite fond of Stannis' casting, too. I thought he worked well in season two but in general the casting has been excellent. The only character that hasn't been working for me is Jon Snow, a character I liked a lot more in the books.

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I'm don't like the Jon Snow actor at ALL! He is the only weak actor in the cast for me.

But they cast Tryion, Twyin, Jaime, Ayra, and Ned perfectly. I'm fine with one miscast character.

At a convention yesterday, Martin read two new Barristan Selmy chapters from The Winds of Winter, the second of which describes the battle for Meereen toward which the previously-read Tyrion and Victarion chapters were leading. Detailed descriptions from someone who as at the reading are here.

Indeed, thanks for the link, I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to book 6... has there been any estimations of when it will come out or is GRRM sticking to his guns of not estimating the date because he missed it so badly last time?

All he's said is that it definitely won't be this year, but next year is still a possibility. (I don't think it's a likely one-- mid-2015 is my personal optimistic estimate-- but you never know.) As of July 2012, he had 200 manuscript pages of complete chapters and another 200 of fragments and rough drafts, out of a planned 1500 or so manuscript pages for the full book. Some of those 200 pages were chapters originally written for A Dance with Dragons but left out due to length, so unless things have picked up since July he's still progressing pretty slowly.

On another note, the Blu-ray and DVD of season two of the TV show comes out tomorrow in the US. Amazon.com has the Blu-ray for $30 and the DVD for $25. I think the prices are the same at Target, which also has an exclusive bonus disc with a 20-minute George R. R. Martin interview.

HBO is partnering with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live to debut its eagerly anticipated Game of Thrones trailer.
The first full third season trailer will make its debut on the talk show Friday night. “I am so excited about this trailer, even I might watch my show,” Kimmel said in a statement.
The trailer will then be posted on the Game of Thrones YouTube channel (and, of course, here on EW too). The Thrones trailer that’s running on Kimmel’s show will be 60 seconds. Thrones returns to HBO on March 31.